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Bright Smiles teams with Public Health to provide free dental hygiene day

Wendy Feldman, right, lives on a fixed income with her husband. Through the Give Where You Live clinic they were able to get dental checkups for the first time in nearly a decade. Also pictured are Leeanne Pepper and Melissa Harling with the CKPHU.

Christine Fairbairn, owner and operator of the Bright Smiles dental hygiene clinic, is making good on her promise to help people in Chatham-Kent get more affordable dental care.

She hosted her second community-wide dental hygiene day “Give Where You Live” on Feb. 13. People could register to have their teeth cleaned and inspected free of charge, and anyone could drop in for a free toothbrush or toothpaste. Parents could also come by to sign their children up for Healthy Smiles, a provincial program to provide dental care to children without coverage.

The full-day event was run by Fairbairn with help from the Public Health Unit.

“This is the second Give Where You Live day we’ve done,” Fairbairn said. “The first one was end of November with the Women’s Centre which was a huge success and I was on my own for that one … now with the Public Health Unit partnering for this event, we have their mobile equipment and able to run two ops.”

The CKPHU sent a number of hygienists and dental assistants so Fairbairn could have two rooms operating at the same time. Over the seven-hour day they serviced 16 people, eight in each room, slotted into 45-minute chunks from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m..

The clinic is usually closed Monday, but Fairbairn says putting in the extra time is worthwhile.

“It’s very heartwarming,” Fairbairn said. “A good portion of the people we’re seeing today, even if the prices were lower, they still wouldn’t be able to afford to come … if it wasn’t for these days they wouldn’t get any care at all.”

Fairbairn wasn’t the only person volunteering her time. Local retired schoolteacher Vicky Laevens saw a preview for the event in the paper and called Fairbairn immediately, asking if she could do anything to help.

“She just inspired me with her ideas,” Laevens said. “Being a teacher for twenty-some years with the Lambton Kent District School Board I thought if I can be of any help to her … I certainly don’t have the dental experience but I’m familiar working with people and children.”

Affordable oral health for adults a widespread issue even outside Chatham-Kent. A number of public health boards in Southwest Ontario are petitioning the provincial government to include oral health in OHIP, something the government says they’ll eventually do in 2025.

Without coverage, people are often unwilling to schedule annual check-ups and only seek out dental coverage when experiencing a serious problem. By that time it is impossible to ignore and expensive to fix.

“There is a tremendous need for adult dental,” said Leeanne Pepper, hygienist with the CKPHU. “Teeth and mouth are … not covered under OHIP; if you cut your finger you can go to the doctor, you have an abscess or invested tooth, you’re left to suffer.”

Fairbairn says most of the people contacting her are seniors, on fixed incomes and without any sort of coverage. For them, a hefty dental bill can be too much for a fixed-income paycheque to cover.

Wendy Feldman, from Chatham, was one of those people.

“My husband, when he retired seven years ago we had no dental coverage,” she said. “I drove a school bus and there’s no coverage there, and I just retired … I haven’t been to a dentist in seven years. So when my daughter told me about this we came.”

“They need it for the seniors, and the low-income people … and people raising families,” Feldman said. “The money’s just not there.”

She and her husband were lucky to register when they did. Once the spaces filled up Fairbairn started putting people on a wait list and now has more than 50 names, people she'll try to fit in next Give Where You Live day.

lpin@postmedia.com

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